We’re elevating the student voice this election and have periodically ask college students to write about college issues related to the election. Today’s post comes from Alice Lahoda a student at Northeastern University studying history & political science.

In the hours leading up to the vice presidential debate that took place on October 11 in Danville, Kentucky, my political junkie friends and I agreed on one thing: no matter who we were rooting for, this debate would definitely be worth watching. And it was.

It started off with moderator Martha Raddatz introducing our current Vice President, Democrat Joe Biden, and his Republican opponent, Representative Paul Ryan. She asked them whether they agree that the recent terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya represented a massive intelligence failure by the government. Biden acknowledged that it was, but then smoothly and expertly transitioned to why President Obama is stronger that Romney regarding foreign policy. Ryan (who is much younger than Biden and therefore hasn’t had as much debate experience) held his own while condemning the Obama Administration for its inconsistent and unclear message in the weeks following the attack.

As a follow-up, Radditz asked Ryan if he thought it was appropriate for Romney to criticize the Americans in the Libyan embassy who apologized to the Muslim world for the distasteful YouTube video mocking Islam that provoked the attack. It is at this point that I have to disclaim that I’m admittedly biased (Go Joe!), so I asked some of my more conservative-leaning friends if they agreed with my assessment that Ryan didn’t quite answer the question here; they [reluctantly] agreed with me. Somewhere in the middle of Ryan’s answer, Biden uttered what I thought was by far the most amusing line of the night: “With all due respect, that’s a bunch of malarkey.” Way to get snarky, Mr. Vice President!

The topic then switched to the possibility of a nuclear Iran and whether the U.S. should consider a military strike in the region. Ryan was adamant that the president hasn’t posed nearly enough sanctions on Iran, and Iranian leaders have in the past four years acquired a multitude of materials that can contribute to making a nuclear bomb. Biden became a little hysterical at this point, repeatedly correcting Ryan and laughing condescendingly at his answers. He stressed that even if Iran gets all the materials they need to make a nuclear bomb, there’s no way that they have the resources necessary to actually assemble a bomb.

The two then squabbled over the economy for a bit: Ryan insisted that Romney is committed to the auto industry and Biden scoffed; Biden reminded America of Romney’s “little soliloquy on the 47%” and Ryan scoffed. While debating Medicare, Social Security, and Obamacare, Ryan said that we should raise the Medicare eligibility age, and Biden said that Ryan’s Medicare plan will end up costing elderly Americans thousands more dollars each year. They also discussed their tax plans: Obama wants to raise taxes on the wealthy and lower taxes on the middle class, and Romney wants to lower tax rates for all income brackets, including small businesses. It was at this point that the two broke out into some unintelligible bickering which clearly displeased Martha Raddatz. She swiftly shut them up and changed the topic.

Ryan said that America should under no circumstances cut the defense budget. Biden disagreed, adding that the Joint Chiefs determined that America actually needs a “smaller, leaner army” to reach maximum efficiency. Regarding Afghanistan, the two candidates played nice for a bit; it’s one of the few topics that they agree on (for the most part). Ryan noted, though, that even though he agrees on Obama’s plan to pull out of Iraq by the end of 2014, we shouldn’t broadcast this date because this essentially alerts groups like the Taliban when it will be safe to come out of hiding. Biden’s response: train Afghani soldiers to take the place of American soldiers once they leave.

As the end of the debate approached, Raddatz noted that both men are Catholic and asked what role their religion plays in forming their stance on abortion. I’ll admit that I liked one thing that Ryan had to say: “I don’t see how a person can separate their public life from their private life and from their faith.” Ryan says he follows the Catholic Church’s belief that life begins at conception, and he is therefore pro-life (although a Romney/Ryan administration would make exceptions in cases of rape, incest, or a mother’s health). Biden acknowledged that “[his] religion defines who [he is],” but the difference between him and Ryan is that even though he personally accepts the church’s position on abortion, he refuses to impose his views on others.

Finally, Raddatz mentioned that she had a conversation with a soldier who was upset that both campaigns are growing increasingly negative as we near Election Day and asked if either of the men were embarrassed by their campaigns’ tones. In what I found to be a humorous instance of unintentional irony, Ryan actually criticized Obama and his campaign… while answering a question about negative campaigns. Classic.

For their closing statements, Biden restated that his goal is to “grow the middle class from the middle out, not [from the] top down,” and Ryan stressed that the current state of the economy “is not what real recovery looks like.” Objectively, I think that both men performed well, although Biden had a slight edge over Ryan because he referenced more specific details and facts (though fact checkers have yet to determine the level of truth spoken by either candidate). Subjectively, however, I loved Biden’s sass and the fact that he wasn’t afraid to passionately call Ryan out on a variety of topics (hey, Obama – maybe Biden should coach you for your next debate!). Overall, the Vice Presidential debate was informative, interesting, and managed to energize both parties’ bases, so I’d have to call it a success.